Mealtime challenges

Transforming mealtime into an exciting language-learning opportunity can be an enjoyable and efficient approach to introducing young children to a new language. Involving kids in meal preparations is a way to make mealtimes fun and a great opportunity for language learning.

Here are some helpful tips:

• Assign a theme to each meal or day of the week. For example, you could have a “fruit day,” where you focus on naming and describing different fruits in the target language.
• As you prepare meals, label ingredients in the target language. For instance, say the names of vegetables, fruits, and other items while cooking.
• Encourage your toddler to describe the tastes and textures of different foods using words from the target language.
• Involve your toddler in the menu-planning process. Discuss and decide on meals using the target language, which introduces food-related vocabulary.
• Involve your toddler in simple and safe cooking activities. Use this time to introduce cooking-related vocabulary and actions in the target language.
• Explore foods from the target culture and discuss where the food comes from.

By assigning themes to meals, labelling ingredients, describing tastes and textures, involving them in menu planning and cooking activities, and exploring foods from the target culture, children can learn new vocabulary and become more comfortable using the language naturally.